THE CASE FOR PARTNERSHIP WITH RAINBOW RAILROAD

Providing emergency travel to LGBTQI+ people facing imminent danger is our core method of work. This involves three key steps:

1. VERIFICATION: We verify each case, learn about the circumstances of the individual facing persecution and begin determining how we can help.

2. RESEARCH AND SUPPORT: We research possible routes to safety and connect with local contacts who provide logistical support. This includes providing support to the individual in-country (e.g. safe houses).

3. TRAVEL: We provide travel to a safer country where the person’s basic rights and freedoms will be upheld. Upon arrival, we provide limited, shortterm support to help people settle in.

On top of emergency travel, Rainbow Railroad provides safety to LGBTQI+ people around the world in five additional ways:

1. Lifesaving support to individuals in imminent danger, which includes accommodations, medical care, access to essential medicines and relocation to another region of the country.

2. Direct support of LGBTQI+ partner organizations, including capacity building and livelihood support to human rights defenders (HRDs), organizations and collectives in countries where people are displaced.

3. Emergency responses to anti-LGBTQI+ crackdowns, including monitoring and responding to mass detentions and/or arrests of LGBTQI+ persons.

4. Providing essential information to LGBTQI+ people at risk, including nonmonetary resources and counsel to LGBTQI+ people facing violence and persecution.

5. Arranging private sponsorship of refugees and pursuing other complementary pathways to safety.

Partnering with organizations that have specific knowledge and experience working on LGBTQI+ human rights issues is a key aspect of making policies effective and operational, and integral to ensuring P-4 and private sponsorship referrals are equitable and inclusive for LGBTQI+ persons.

Given the unique vulnerabilities of persecuted LGBTQI+ persons, and Rainbow Railroad’s capacity to relocate LGBTQI+ persons facing imminent danger, we are equipped to enter a referring partnership that incorporates lessons learned from previous interventions. Through both ERAC and the Welcome Corps program, Rainbow Railroad will facilitate the inclusion of LGBTQI+ individuals into longer-term private sponsorship resettlement solutions and ensure the protection of vulnerable LGTBQI+ refugees.

Rainbow Railroad is best equipped to represent LGBTQI+ persons facing persecution in the global south because for over 15 years we have mapped local LGBTQI+-inclusive and led service providers and community spaces to ensure the targeted identification of atrisk persons. Our in-country implementing partners provide a range of protection-based programming, including: comprehensive case management services, core protection, shelter, and CVA (cash & voucher assistance), external referrals to protection actors, and an emergency response fund for timely response to unforeseen situations given the prevalence of anti-LGBTQI+ legal and social hostility in target countries.